CarSeat News And Tips

What is a Locking Clip

A Gated Buckle is also called a Locking clip; which is used to help lock in the lateral tension; to prevent lateral movement in case of a side impact with another object.

When you have either a Japanese car or an American Car; then there is a very good chance that you will not need a Gated buckle or a locking clip. The reason ;you may not need a gated buckle; is that these cars have what is called ALR or ELR (Automatic Locking Retraction, or Emergency Locking Retraction)

What is safest Rear Facing or Forward facing

Your baby is always safest in a rear facing car seat; for as long as your child fits in a rear facing child restraint / baby capsule. However there are practical limits to keeping a child rear facing such as the height markers. The height marker to turn a child around indicates the minimum torso length; the child to turn around a rear facing car seat to forward facing. The height markers must have measured at the shoulders.

A gated buckle is useful when you have a child under the age of 8, that needs to be harnessed in a Child restraint, whether that is a forward facing car-seat or a rearward facing child restraint.

In order for the child restraint to be effective, there are three attachment systems which need to be activated.

When you have any doubt about your ability to install you baby car seat call in an ACRI Professional car seat fitter.

As an accredited child restraint technician, I know how important Car Seat Safety truly is, I have seen so many horrible examples of how people install their child restraints, thankfully someone(usually mum) sees sense and comes and get the car seat installation checked out by a professional child restraint technician.

Unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg and there are many many more carseats installed incorrectly by parents who want to save a few dollars, and do not take the opportunity to get the child restraint at the point of purchase and 30 minutes of their time. The risk is too great, not to get your child restraint fitted correctly

Convertible Car Seat Summary

More and more parents are choosing to buy convertible car seats over infant car seats these days, and there are two main reasons why; lifespan and money savings.

The reason to choose a convertible car seat over an Infant car seat should not be based purely on price alone, however given that you will need to purchase a number of car-seats, it is an option with pro’s and cons to be considered before making a final decision.